Free-Standing Signs

Free-standing Signs for Your Business

One class of business signage may be called "free-standing" signs, which are basically any signs that are not supported by a building or other existing structure. These can include pylons, monuments, or post and panel designs.

Think in terms of single- or double-sided signage supported above ground level. Monuments have a solid base and can incorporate some of the features of the property such as brick, stone or other architectural details and materials of a building. At the entry of shopping centers or along highways, pylon signage can tower high to be seen from great distances. In urban areas, post and panel signs are closer to the ground, eye level, the better to be visible to foot traffic and to link the messaging more closely to one particular business location among many situated close together.

Free-Standing Signs Communicate

At Metro Sign and Awning, we have worked hard to understand the best ways to produce well-designed, well-constructed freestanding signs. Why? Because we recognize and appreciate the tremendous communication power they can offer our clients. These inherent advantages include flexibility of size, color, and shape, and their ability to be positioned for optimum impact - for example, closer to the vehicular traffic, taller, wider, with a more interesting shape, with dramatic architectural elements. Freestanding signage can be designed to include a wide range of unique, memorable features that can make the signage more effective.

This experience means we can work with you to design and fabricate free-standing signage that generates a far larger number of exposures than if the signage were limited by the need to anchor it to a specific building.

More About Free-Standing Signs

The three basic types of free-standing signs are monument, pylon, and post and panel signs. Free-standing signs stand on their own. They come in a wide variety of sizes and styles, and offer many options in terms of materials, illumination, and changeable copy and digital messaging boards.

Considerations

In addition to adhering to local sign ordinances (and often, sign regulations in effect in historical districts), most commercial property management companies have signage specifications that tenants must follow.

Metro Sign & Awning works with architects and city and township building and zoning committees as well as property managers and national franchise staff to ensure each sign makes the most of a business’s budget and brand while working within the sign requirements.

While monument sign designs are sometimes limited by size and other standards, there are still many ways to get the sign you want and need. Modern materials, such as long-lasting but lightweight plastics, can be good alternatives to wood signs – even in historic districts! Other materials – like metals that appear “weathered” and rusted, even when new – can be incorporated in your sign so it delivers the unique, memorable impression you’re after.

Illumination, color and energy savings

National and international standards for signage illumination and energy use are constantly changing. Metro Sign & Awning designers and fabricators attend frequent educational seminars to stay on top of options for their clients. Discuss the options with your sign design team. See our portfolio for examples of a variety of monument signs, including freestanding, pylon and post-and-panel designs.

Cost-Effective Construction and Creativity

Free-standing signs can be very cost effective, too, giving the appearance of stone, brick, or other traditional materials while actually being fabricated from modern lightweight, strong, and durable materials that are less expensive, more durable, and easier to use.

Even the way daylight and moonlight play on a freestanding sign, as well as the reflected light from snow, wet pavement, and other environmental factors in varying weather conditions, can make for major differences in how a freestanding sign appears from one exposure to the next.

The three-dimensionality of freestanding signs offers opportunities for our creative designers to express the important elements of your brand, as well as to convey your specific message in text and images that yield highly visible, long-lasting, low-maintenance, extremely memorable signage.

Experienced Design and Installation Teams

Our design team has decades of experience crafting freestanding signs with a great look that meet our clients' needs and convey their messaging in surprising and powerful ways. The look can range from solid, substantial, historic, and permanent to ephemeral, trendy, or whimsical. Metro Sign and Awning's designers are expert at managing all these factors and nuances to create extra value and excitement in your free standing signage.

Our installation team has a long track record of accomplishing seemingly impossible signage tasks in full compliance with local zoning and other construction regulations.

Despite all the flexibility and power of freestanding signs, Metro Signage and Awning know-how and experience helps keep costs quite reasonable.